food from the heart of Tasmania

Anzac biscuits

I’ve been married 20 years this year and during that time I’ve tried so many Anzac recipes because I have a husband who loves these biscuits but he doesn’t like them too thick, too soft, too hard….oh no they have to be thin and just a bit chewy!!

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Anzac biscuits here is some history:

ANZAC Day (25th April) is a nationwide day of commemoration for Australians and New Zealander’s of the lives lost at war, especially the ANZAC’s (Australian and New Zealand Army Corp) of WWI. The sweet ANZAC biscuits that we know and love today, originating from World War I, are in fact a derivative of the hard-tack soldier’s biscuit that was consumed in the battlefields (which is commonly confused) . They are thought to have been carefully created by a team of women on the home-front who were searching for a solution to a biscuit that could be easily transportable to their men on the front line in care/comfort packs. It was important that the biscuits and their carefully selected ingredients didn’t spoil in the long voyage, were readily available and delivered nutritionally, hence the inclusion of golden syrup and the exclusion of eggs and butter traditional used in biscuit cookery. (http://www.emubottombiscuits.com.au/the-history-of-the-anzac.html)

Ingredients

2 cups oats (not quick oats)

1 3/4 cups plain flour

2 cups brown sugar

1 cup dessicated coconut

250 g butter

2 tbs water

4 tbs golden syrup

1 tsp bicarbonate soda

Method

Preheat oven to 160ºC.

In a large bowl combine oats, coconut, sugar & flour. Stir to combine, make a well in the centre. In a medium saucepan heat the butter, syrup, water until the butter is melted, add the soda and stir. Immediately tip contents of saucepan into dry ingredients and mix thoroughly.

Place heaped teaspoonfuls of mixture onto oven trays and bake in oven until flat and golden brown. Cool on trays for at least 5 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.